Tang and song poetry

Overall I liked the song poems better than the tang poems. They seemed to flow more like a poem, while the tang poetry was filled with short and choppy statements much like a really brief anectdote. Also I found that in the song poetry the author asked himself a lot of questions, sort of as a way to lead the audience into his ideas. Overall I think they both represent the interactions between different types of people rather that song and tang societies as a whole. And lastly I think poetry isn't really a good way to understand a society because it often filled with bias emotions or a strong point of view, which makes it hard to fully comprehend the whole society.

The Spread of Islam

Constantine vs. Prince Vladimir

        Constantine converted to Christianity during his rise to power after witnessing a vision that displayed the power of the Christian God. Constantine said that God led him through his conquests and he declared the Edit of Milan which allowed all Christians of the Roman empire to practice their religion under their own terms and freedom. Prince Vladimir had full power of his state when he converted to Christianity, which was significant because he then imposed it upon the whole community rather than letting his people practice it freely. He ended up choosing Eastern Orthodox Christianity, partially because of his dislike for Judaism and Islam and also because the religion appealed most to his men.
Constantine and Vladimirs's conversions differed in a couple of ways. As mentioned before Constantine was rising to power when he established Christianity in his society, so he used the religion as a tool to unite his community under his rule. Vladimir on the other hand was already ruling so he just used Christianity to keep his men happy and to unify society under one religion. Because Vladimir used his conversion to please his men, it was more strategical than spiritual. This differs from Constantine's because he actually had a spiritual moment with Christianity that influenced his conversion.

Byzantine Architecture and Arts of Other Sorts

Byzantine architecture has a rather simple style and focuses on the colors of red and brown a lot. There were a lot of brick buildings and the structure of the most exquisite buildings included domed ceilings. Although these domes provided a complex aspect to Byzantine architecture, the rest of the exteriors were rather simple and plain. The interiors; however, were decorated with all sorts of color and detail. I didn't observe anything that seemed decorative or meant to be pretty on any of the exteriors, so the architecture mostly seemed to be designed for certain purposes. This type of architecture did not have many connections to American architecture but it did share the similarities of domed ceilings in common areas and brick buildings.

All about Constantinople

Document 1: Benjamin of Tudela loves Constantinople and everything about it and it shows in his writing. He discusses the beautiful architecture and trading centers and truly expresses his love for the city, even though heroes mention that the Jewish citizens were treated poorly. Very Credible source.
Document 2: Robert of Clary writes about Constantinople's capture and the Greeks fascination in the city. He addresses this document to the common people.
Document 3: Nicetas Choniates describes via exaggeration the destruction of Constantinople by the Latins and their lack of sympathy and consideration towards the city's valuables and riches.
Document 4: this is a map of Constantinople that shows the society's protection and religion but is not as credible as the other sources because of lack of buildings and other essential aspects.
Document 5: this photo is taken by Bildarchiv Foto Marburg and depicts Saint Sophia, a new form of architecture developed by Constantine.
Document 6: this document is written by George Acropolites and describes Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus and the Byzantine Empire. Also focuses on Christian influence on Society.
Document 7: Chrysobull describes Venetian ways of life and their success rather than discussing Constantinople.
I believe document 1 is the most credible source because it addresses all important parts about the city from it's beautiful architecture and culture, to its religion and economy. Benjamin of Tudela also describes that even though his love for the city is powerful, there was a downfall beuase the Jews were treated poorly, making the source reliable because it addresses issues of the city as well.

Silk Road Project

I enjoyed this project very much because it offered more than just a formal essay. The map allowed us to portray our understanding in a layout formation, which also helped me grasp the information better because I learn better visually. I also like to draw so that was a bonus.Three things that went really well were the fact that Nadia lives right down the street so it was convienient to get together (and provided us with something to do in a power outage), the map itself because I think we did a pretty good job, and utilizing the book for information. Three things that didn't go so well were the fact that we didn't have power forcing us to learn by candlelight, trying to condense a lot of information into one map and a two page essay, and gathering good Internet resources that provided correct trade routes for certain products. If I were to do one thing differently I think I would use more pictures and less writing on the map(E.g. maybe draw pictures of sugarcane rather than write out a description for it.) I think this would be easier to visually understand. And overall I thought the collaboration went very well both because Nadia and I have a similar mindset and we live 2 minutes away from each other.